LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 2001, Page 81

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CONVENTION ESSAYS AND REACTIONS
This desire for unity and agreement in the teaching is
strongly reflected in Paul’s first letter to Timothy. Timothy
is to charge others not to “teach differently” (1 Tim. 1:3;
6:2–3) in a way that contradicts the “healthy teaching,” the
“healthy words of our Lord Jesus Christ.” By paying attention to the “noble teaching” and the words of the faith, by
giving heed to his teaching and persevering in it, Timothy
will save both himself and his hearers. In the context of
Timothy’s ministry in Ephesus, the dangerous errors in
view included various misuses of the Law, fanciful myths
and genealogies, false asceticism regarding marriage and
foods, and the like.
The churches in the New Testament along with their
teachers desired unity and agreement in their doctrine. We
may turn finally to Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, where
“churches” drop out of view and “church,” the one holy
Christian church, comes to the foreground. It is here in
Ephesians 4 that the unity of the faith is most explicitly
mentioned. Paradoxically, that unity is at the same time a
given, a reality, and also a goal; it is both a gift from God
and an achievement to be protected and preserved.
In Ephesians 4, Paul begins with a general exhortation
for us to walk worthily of our calling as Christians. He then
specifies how this is to be done: “by bearing with one another in love” and “by being eager to guard (or keep) the
unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” Bearing with one
another in love; love is to cover all that we do. Surely this is
a good word for us at any time. Surely this is a good word
for us gathered at a synodical convention. One could even
suggest that love through obedience to the Eighth Commandment might be especially appropriate. Have we always remembered to deal in love in matters of church fellowship? I doubt it. Is there opportunity for us to repent
and be forgiven and more forward in love? I should think
so. Because of God’s grace, we can begin anew, today, bearing with one another in love.
But the second phrase is intriguing: “being eager to
guard the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” The
“unity of the Spirit” is something that needs to be guarded,
even as it is something objective and unchanging that God
has established, just as Paul continues in the next verse.
The unity of the Spirit is based on unchanging objective realities: “There is one body and one Spirit … one hope of
your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and
Father of all.” One faith—it’s a given.
But, read on, verse 13. In the church, God has also given
gifts: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers,
all toward a goal, verse 13: “until we all attain to the unity
of the faith,” with the result, verse 14, that we are no longer
“carried about by every wind of doctrine.” This is St. Paul’s
equivalent of Matt. 28:20: “teaching them to hold fast
everything that I commanded you to hold fast.” Unity in the
faith is a goal toward which the church must strive.
So, in the New Testament, the one body, the church and
the many churches has the same goal: unity in love and in
teaching the faith. This is a unity that Jesus both gives and
commands, an agreement that Paul seeks and to which he
exhorts. When there is disagreement, the New Testament
churches came together until there was unity. But what
happens when error persists?

81

III. The New Testament Churches
and Error
The New Testament knows, of course, about persistent
false doctrine and about dangerous teachers—wolves in
sheep’s clothing, the Lord Jesus calls them. On the last day,
these false prophets who may be known by the evil fruit of
their teaching will hear the voice of His condemnation, “I
never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness” (Matt. 7:23) John the apostle writes about those who
had left the church: “Children, it is the last hour; and just
as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have arisen; from this we know that it is the last
hour. They went out from us, but they were not really of us;
for if they had been of us, they would have remained with
us” (1 John 2:18). The error of these false teachers? “Who is
the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ?
This is the antichrist, who denies the Father and the Son”
(1 John 2:22). In his second letter, John warns once again,
“For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those
who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the
flesh” (2 John 7). Concerning such a teacher, John continues, “do not receive him into your house and do not give
him a greeting; for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds” (2 John 10–11).
But what about other persistent error, other dangerous
teaching that violates the unity of the faith and contradicts
the word of the Lord? Here the New Testament’s direct testimony is limited, for the church was young and the turns
and tragedies of history and heresy still lay in the future.
But I can mention a very few errors, divisions that have
persisted between the churches and prevented unity for
hundreds and hundreds of years. These are matters that
pertain directly to the saving, healthy, life-giving Gospel of
Jesus Christ. Three errors will suffice to show the tragedy
of our current situation.
First, “Sola fidei”—through faith, alone. We are declared
righteous, we are cleansed, we are forgiven by God, and on
the Last Day we will stand before our glorious Lord as His
own dear children only, solely through simple faith, trust
in Christ Jesus and what He has accomplished on our behalf. Or is that right? The church of Rome says, “By faith.”
But then there is the “also,” the merit of good works that
must be accumulated: “Since the initiative belongs to God
in the order of grace, no one can merit the initial grace of
forgiveness and justification, at the beginning of conversion. Moved by the Holy Spirit and by charity, we can then
merit for ourselves and for others the graces needed for our
sanctification, for the increase of grace and charity, and for
the attainment of eternal life” (Catechism of the Catholic
Church [1994 edition], para. 2010; emphasis original). Is
this the unity of the faith? In sorrow, we reply, “No.” Does
the error of the church of Rome bring confusion and harm
to dear ones for whom Christ died? In sorrow, we reply,
“Yes.”
A second example. How does God deliver His forgiveness
and strength to us in our lives as believers? Well, the Spirit
came to us when we were baptized, didn’t He? Didn’t He
actually come down and miraculously, supernaturally join
us to God’s own dear Son when we were baptized? Can’t we
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